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Horror (Fictional and Real), Nasty Conservatives, Gaming Updates
Recently had the opportunity at Splodge with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya, severina_242, _zombiemonkey, and cvisors to see the classic Hammer film Horror of Dracula (with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee). A good bit of cheesy horror (the working class Londoner accent complete with Gordon's gin at a Kluj inn would horrify Transylvanians). Later in the week watched the classic Vincent Price flick House on Haunted Hill which was quite clever and finally, wonder of wonders, found the memory card for the Playstation 2 which had been missing for several months and contained four hours of a saved game for Project Zero, certainly one of the best horror games that has ever been produced.
In real world horrors, there has been both the earthquake in Chengdu and a rising death toll (approximately 10,000 mostly in Mianyang) and the effects of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, where the number of dead or missing is over 100,000. The military junta that rules Burma deserves a special award for disgusting behaviour for not only blocking aid workers, but for also holding a particularly rigged constitutional referendum days after the event. An interesting comparison can be drawn between how the contemporary Chinese government is reacting to the disaster compared to their government during the Tangshan earthquake which killed approximately a quarter of a million. Communications technology is a bedrock of an open society.
On topic, there was the kerfuffle over a local Liberal Party 'blog, managed and operated by insiders, criticising leader Ted Baillieu. Although now closed it has been mirrored with history all the way to December. Not only is it amazing to think that it took that long to go through the IP logs, but in the fall-out the conservative's hatred of Jews is once again exposed. An isolated incident? Perhaps not - consider just prior Republican Congress hopefull Tony Zirkle (who, not surprisingly campaigns primarily against pornography and prostitution) decided to attend an Adolph Hitler birthday celebration sponsored by the American Nazi Party. If one was to give a broad summary it would seem that "the left" has a problem with Israel, whereas the "the right" has a problem with Jews.
Apropos there recently has been "some discussion" over an online Harry Potter RPG which called itself "Kristallnacht", which has since changed its name. Personally, I thought it was a great name for the story with enormous potential for thematic references and an oppurtunity to teach people some history via analogy (which is one of fantasy's better uses). In my own gaming worlds, I am pleased to see that a DragonQuest PBeM I am involved in has just restarted, had a good session of Bushido last Sunday and most recently I've started a Powers & Perils PBeM which has developed very quickly. Finally, one of the players in my HeroQuest PBeM has culled the archives into a story representation; it currently runs at 185 pages.
caseopaya, severina_242, _zombiemonkey, and cvisors to see the classic Hammer film Horror of Dracula (with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee). A good bit of cheesy horror (the working class Londoner accent complete with Gordon's gin at a Kluj inn would horrify Transylvanians). Later in the week watched the classic Vincent Price flick House on Haunted Hill which was quite clever and finally, wonder of wonders, found the memory card for the Playstation 2 which had been missing for several months and contained four hours of a saved game for Project Zero, certainly one of the best horror games that has ever been produced. In real world horrors, there has been both the earthquake in Chengdu and a rising death toll (approximately 10,000 mostly in Mianyang) and the effects of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, where the number of dead or missing is over 100,000. The military junta that rules Burma deserves a special award for disgusting behaviour for not only blocking aid workers, but for also holding a particularly rigged constitutional referendum days after the event. An interesting comparison can be drawn between how the contemporary Chinese government is reacting to the disaster compared to their government during the Tangshan earthquake which killed approximately a quarter of a million. Communications technology is a bedrock of an open society.
On topic, there was the kerfuffle over a local Liberal Party 'blog, managed and operated by insiders, criticising leader Ted Baillieu. Although now closed it has been mirrored with history all the way to December. Not only is it amazing to think that it took that long to go through the IP logs, but in the fall-out the conservative's hatred of Jews is once again exposed. An isolated incident? Perhaps not - consider just prior Republican Congress hopefull Tony Zirkle (who, not surprisingly campaigns primarily against pornography and prostitution) decided to attend an Adolph Hitler birthday celebration sponsored by the American Nazi Party. If one was to give a broad summary it would seem that "the left" has a problem with Israel, whereas the "the right" has a problem with Jews.
Apropos there recently has been "some discussion" over an online Harry Potter RPG which called itself "Kristallnacht", which has since changed its name. Personally, I thought it was a great name for the story with enormous potential for thematic references and an oppurtunity to teach people some history via analogy (which is one of fantasy's better uses). In my own gaming worlds, I am pleased to see that a DragonQuest PBeM I am involved in has just restarted, had a good session of Bushido last Sunday and most recently I've started a Powers & Perils PBeM which has developed very quickly. Finally, one of the players in my HeroQuest PBeM has culled the archives into a story representation; it currently runs at 185 pages.
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It is the closest thing in the region that approximates a democratic and secular country. It's not quite democratic and secular because of the religious exclusivity, but it often comes pretty close.
The greatest weakness however is that it's a colonial state, imposed on the indigenous people of the land and it continues to engage in horrendous (not to mention internationally criminal) occupations and invasions.
One of the things that always gives me strength when debating such issues is the number of Jews who express the same opinion that I do. Perhaps they are "self-hating" Jews, as conservatives call them. More likely however, I suspect they are people who have placed universal rights above their own sectional interests.
Indeed, I am in such a debate right now.
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=7359&page=0
Article at:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7359
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Sometimes it's hard though when you're composing a response and at the same time you've just read news articles such as the following:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/14/gaza
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was also talking to my friend who was in Fujin province when the China Earthquakes struck and said that the place he is currently living was badly shaken as well and shock damage reached as far as the northern most tip of China and even to the far North East as well.
He notes while China isn't requesting external aid or support, they are employing many foreign engineers and earthquake specialists as they need.
He makes note in a recent e-mail that it's more a point of pride than politics to ask for help from outsiders.
He also said that he's waiting for the rants that the recent disasters in Burma and China are both "punishments from God for not obeying the laws of democracy and being more like everyone else" -one such rant we found on youtube but has since been removed and the poster's account banned as well.
Frankly, only a matter of time before the really arch-conservative nutballs start bringing out the act of God speeches.
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The earthquake was pretty massive, one of our workmates is from Chengdu city so it's pretty close to her nerves. I rather suspect China can afford foreign aid workers, engineers etc these days. Perhaps not so much in 1976 (iirc the GDP per capita those days was well below $300 USD per annum).
one such rant we found on youtube but has since been removed and the poster's account banned as well.
Aw damn. I would have liked that.
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wanted to post it to my LJ but it disappeared pretty quickly.
oh, well.
another one will pop up soon enough. :)
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https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006
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my other issue is that downloading from youtube is one of the last things that I think of -even for the stuff that I really want to keep for myself.
a habit that I must learn to get out of really.
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The disastrous events of the last week or so really bring back to light how lucky we are in a country that doesn't really get hit with much of anything. I can't even fathom how those people feel, and when I start whinging about things I stop and remember those poor people :/
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"but in the fall-out the conservative's hatred of Jews is once again exposed."
Conservatives the world over seem to vehemently hate anything that isn't exactly like that. Jew, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, etc.
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Well he is now, but proir to his faux pas he was polling quite well.
Conservatives the world over seem to vehemently hate anything that isn't exactly like that.
*nods* Political conservatives tend to oppose diversity in their own environment and support expediency in foreign affairs.
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Only due to his obscurity amongst the voting public. He has been a black sheep in the GOP for a long long time.
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than in the same news bulletin, they said how Burma is shutting out more and more countries offering assistance -including their regional neighbour Thailand- and restricting the people who are already there.
Now everyone is fearing water born diseases spread by the new rains infecting the majority of the country and also more devistation & death being caused by further cyclones that seem to be developing.
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just vexing that it's taken so long for the majority of the world to notice what is going on there and the main reason that countries such as us haven't done anything politically about it is because they have political protection from China.
yet, Rudd wants to take the Iranian president to the international court of justice for inciting hatred & violence against Israel.
can't the same be done to the generals?
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oh, well.
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I'm glad to see that I haven't been the only person to make this comment/joke. Though when I brought up Zirkle, most people here just looked at me like some alien. Heaven forbid I try to discuss news with the people I work with...but bring up American Idol and everyone wants to chat.
And yet, I'm the youngest in my department, *sigh*.
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Mon aigle, vous monterez. Les poulets resteront au sol.